The Northeast Colorado Health Department (NCHD) partnered with OMNI to conduct an opioid and substance use regional assessment of Health Statistics Region 1 (HSR1), the catchment area which NCHD serves. HSR1 is located in the northeast corner of Colorado and consists of Logan, Morgan, Phillips, Sedgwick, Washington, and Yuma Counties. The goal of this regional assessment was to comprehensively assess opioid and substance misuse within HSR1's six counties to provide data for NCHD to use in deciding in how best to strengthen community collaboration and strategic planning to address these challenges.

When COVID-19 proliferated across the United States in March, the Commonwealth of Virginia enacted a stay-at-home order and all in-person substance use prevention efforts were halted. As a part of our longstanding evaluation efforts of Virginia’s prevention programs, OMNI, in partnership with the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS) Office of Behavioral Health Wellness (OBHW) quickly developed a survey to better understand how the pandemic, the stay-at-home order, and the shift to virtual work were impacting the provision of prevention services across the Commonwealth.

With the support of State Opioid Response grant funding, Universities across Virginia are working to change this dynamic with Collegiate Recovery Programs (CRP), which are on-campus communities specialized for students in recovery. CRPs provide services and supportive spaces that address the entire range of student needs.

September is National Recovery Month. In this blog we dive into the world of peer recovery specialists. Peer recovery specialists, often referred to as "peers," are individuals with lived experience of substance use, mental health, or co-occurring disorders who provide support to those who are coping with similar diagnoses. Relationships between peer supporters and the individuals who receive peer services are based on mutuality, agency, and empowerment.

Welcome to part two in a four-part series in which we share findings from year one of Virginia’s State Opioid Response (SOR) Grant. This week, we continue our series with a look at progress related to Virginia's prevention efforts. We also share reflections on how prevention practitioners have responded to the emerging COVID-19 crisis, and how their work has quickly adapted to continue to deliver high quality prevention services in the midst of a rapidly changing environment.

As recently as three weeks ago, the opioid epidemic was one of the largest public health crises facing America. With the onset of a global pandemic, public health has been thrust into a new spotlight, and attention has shifted to doing everything in our power to ‘flatten the curve’. Yet for many, addressing the behavioral health needs of ourselves, our families, and our communities remains critically important.

In a four-part series in the coming weeks, we will highlight key findings from one of OMNI’s behavioral health projects—an evaluation of the first year of Virginia’s State Opioid Response (SOR) grant.

As Childhood Abuse Prevention month begins, OMNI aims to bring community awareness to the prevalence and impacts of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). ACEs encompass all types of abuse, neglect, and other potentially traumatic experiences such as violence or instability in the home that occur in childhood (under age 18). Although ACEs are experienced in childhood, they have wide-reaching effects and lasting impacts into adulthood.

Epidemiology curves, outbreak maps, and line graphs of the volatile stock market are flashing across the news and my social media feeds at a breakneck pace these days. The constant updates on the COVID-19 pandemic have made me think a lot about the role data and data visualizations are playing in this public health emergency. As an evaluator working in public and behavioral health, I look at data

Both mental health and substance use disorders are diseases that have biological, psychological, social, and spiritual components (Peters, Taylor, Lyketsos, & Chisolm, 2012). Treatments for mental health and substance use disorders encompass a spectrum of programs, therapies, and other strategies, each at varying intensities. A common theme of treatment for these disorders is that they should be delivered with empathy, without confrontation (MHA, 2017), and individuals should be treated with dignity and respect for their personhood (Marcovitz, 2019).

Mental health and substance use disorders are common, recurrent, and treatable, yet the most effective methods for addressing these issues are not always apparent or implemented. Our expert public health research team recently completed a comprehensive literature review on best practices for treating mental health and substance use disorders as part of a larger set of recommendations

Funded by the Telligen Community Initiative, the Toolkit supports public health departments in generating a shared understanding of health equity within the organization, creating an organizational commitment to improving equity, and institutionalizing health equity practices.  This toolkit builds off the work of many existing resources, for which the OMNI Institute and partners are grateful.  We are humbled to contribute this toolkit to the field of equity and hope it may inspire others who will build onto it in the future. 

We're halfway through National Public Health Week which got us thinking about all of the amazing work being done to advance health, both at the OMNI Institute and by our partners and colleagues nationwide.

News about the opioid epidemic this can be paralyzing—making us think there is nothing that can be done to address the epidemic which led to 558 deaths in 2017 in Colorado alone. The good news is not only is there something that can be done about the opioid epidemic, but hundreds of healthcare professionals in Colorado are convening this week to increase awareness and share lessons learned from the work that is already being tackled to address the crisis.